Archive of live show reviews from the craptabulous website www.doginasweater.com. Most shows take place in the Triangle of North Carolina.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Merge 25 - Night Three at the Cat's Cradle - 7/25/2014

Merge 25

Destroyer, Wye Oak, The Mountain Goats, and David Kilgour and the Heavy 8s

Cat's Cradle7/25/2014

After
stuffing myself silly at Carrburritos, I got into the Cradle right at
the end of Imperial Teen's set and caught their final two songs. I've
never been all that excited by these guys, but maybe I was in a good
mood or the songs hit me just right but I liked what I heard - tons of
energy and the crowd seemed way into it, but as per usual I don't have
anything else to say about Imperial Teen.

I got there a little early specifically because I didn't want to miss any of David Kilgour & the Heavy 8s.
To be completely honest I've not listened to his solo work all that
much, but I love his band the Clean so much I felt it imperative I see
him perform live as much as possible, regardless of what songs he might
be playing. Even though I didn't know any of the setlist, I thoroughly
enjoyed the band's set - most notably Kilgour's excellent guitar
playing, which held me transfixed for much of the set. His New Zealand
accent was so thick he jokingly put on a fake British accent to be
understood, but you need no translator to understand good music.

I've never seen a Mountain Goats
show that featured so little banter from frontman John Darnielle - I
guess they took their short time slot to heart and decided to power
through as many songs as possible. They played a lot of crowd favorites
like "San Bernardino," "Amy," "This Year," and what is probably the
band's greatest song, one that had the entire crowd singing along, "No
Children." There was also a cover of the American Music Club song "Who
You Are," a track I had never before heard, but Darnielle and company
really made it their own. Knowing how rabid Mountain Goats fans are,
I'm betting there were folks who attended this show or even this
festival specifically for them - I hope they at least enjoyed the
quality of their offerings since there was a lack of quantity, because
the quality was high.

Wye Oak
held down the penultimate leg of the evening. I've said it elsewhere
but they're really two different bands these days, the former
guitar-based Wye Oak versus the current bass heavy electro-pop Wye Oak.
I really like both versions, though I might give a slight edge to the
older, more rockin' version of the band because that is the one
responsible for their best song "Holy Holy," which they thankfully
played in their set this night. Outside of that track and a couple of
other older ones, Jenn Wasner left her guitar in it's stand and focused
on songs from their new record "Shriek." It's a little bit of a shame
because she is such an excellent guitarist; but it's no surprise that on
the new songs, she dominates the bass just as well. Oh, and that
amazing voice, plus she's incredibly attractive. Honestly it wouldn't
take much cajoling for me to quit my job and travel the world stalking
her professionally (at a respectable distance, of course - I'm no creep;
well, only a slight creep). It's an odd feeling, loving a band's new
direction while simultaneously missing their old sound...usually I hate
when a group changes as drastically as Wye Oak have, but in this rare
case it works.

Destroyer
closed the night, and it was incredible. The last time they rolled
through town in support of "Kaputt," it was like the whole band,
especially frontman Dan Bejar, had downed a fistful of 'ludes before
taking the stage. By comparison this outing was downright ebullient!
Early in the set Bejar exclaimed "Gotta find my tambourine...it's gonna
be worth it," and I knew based on his mood it was going to be a good
night. Including Bejar the band was running at eight members, including
two full-time horn blowers and an organist. Outside of a couple of new
songs (which sounded great), most of the setlist was made from the
albums "Rubies and "Kaputt" - and the best songs off of those albums to
boot. The list included "Savage Night of the Opera," "Chinatown,"
"European Oils," and the closer for the night, the epic "Rubies." There
was still a little time until 2 AM and I was hoping the band would keep
going until closing, but like some crusty old Englishman once told me
we can't always get what we want. I'm pretty sure this gig is going to
lead me down a manic Destroyer listening party for the next few weeks. I
don't see that as a problem.

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About Me

check out the parent website...
http://www.doginasweater.com/
2008 - current: These reviews are from my time here in the Triangle of NC.
Pre-2008: These reviews were from when I lived in the Bay Area and likely appeared on the website Playing in Fog.